COMMERCE– The Texas A&M University-Commerce women's basketball team begins the second half of its conference schedule with two road contests this week. The Lions face A&M-Kingsville on Thursday and Angelo State on Saturday.
 
A&M-Kingsville
WHO: Texas A&M-Commerce (12-6, 7-3 LSC) at Texas A&M-Kingsville (8-9, 5-5 LSC)
WHERE: The Steinke Center in Kingsville, Texas
WHEN: Thursday, Jan. 31 at 5:30 p.m.
LIVE STATS: Click HERE
LIVE VIDEO: Click HERE
LIVE AUDIO: ketr.org
 
Angelo State
WHO: Texas A&M-Commerce at No. 20 Angelo State (14-2, 9-1 LSC)
WHERE: The Junell Center in San Angelo, Texas
WHEN: Saturday, Feb. 2 at 2 p.m.
LIVE STATS: Click HERE
LIVE VIDEO: Click HERE
LIVE AUDIO: ketr.org
 
The Lions are coming off of two wins at home. The Lions defeated Western New Mexico and UT Permian Basin. Head coach Jason Burton was proud of the way his team defended its home floor.
 
"One of our goals in 2019 is to be undefeated at the Field House," he said. "I thought we did a good job of taking care of business. Starting out with Western New Mexico, they are greatly improved from last year. Their record does not reflect how talented they are. They came in and did a good job but our team did a good job of sticking with the game plan. And I'm proud of our team for Saturday's game. We put in a new offense with some new plays and for us to execute at a high level, I'm really proud of our girls and their effort."
 
Burton mentioned two players who had breakout weeks. He praised the play of Ekaterina Zhibareva and Mykiel Burleson. Zhibareva had a double-double against WNMU while Burleson scored 21 points against UTPB.
 
"Kate has been really solid as of late," Burton said. "She had two games back-to-back where she really played well. She had a double-double against Western New Mexico and had another solid game against Permian. And Mykiel also has been playing well. She had her breakout performance against Permian. She has been feeling hot in practice and it carried over into the game. It was nice to see that translate from practice to the court. She is getting more and more confidence as we go along."
 
Burton also praised fifth-year senior Princess Davis, who averaged 16 points and eight assists last week. Davis also became the program's all-time leader in games started, starting her 102nd game in a Lion uniform.
 
"She has done so much in her career," Burton said of Davis. "It is a testament of her from start to finish. It speaks to the player she has been in the entirety of her career. She is constantly working to get better and is a true leader. She is one of the all-time greats in this program. It is fun to witness history as the season goes along."
 
The Lions are now at the midway mark of their season. The team is currently 7-3 in conference play, sitting in fourth place. Only two games out of first, Burton knows the team is still in a good position if it can continue to improve.
 
"I like where we are at," he said. "The thing I like about this team is our depth. I think that's an area we have struggled with in previous years. Last year at this time, we were 9-1 but weren't this deep. And we had some injuries that hurt us. But this year is a different team."
 
The Lions now head out on the road, first to face A&M-Kingsville on Thursday. The Lions defeated the Javelinas by 49 points in December, holding the Javelinas to just 38 points in the win. Since then, A&M-Kingsville has won five of their last seven games. Burton knows past success does not dictate future success.
 
"They are a different team," Burton said of TAMUK's recent play. "They have changed their style of play. They are a lot more guard oriented now. But we match up well with guards. That is a strength of ours this year. We are deep at the guard spot. We have to come down and be prepared. We have to come and not just assume because we won the first game that we are going to win again. We have to come prepared and ready to go."
 
The Lions then face Angelo State on Saturday. The Rambelles took the first game of the series in Commerce, defeating the Lions by six. Burton feels that game got away from his team early and they could not overcome a bad first quarter. He is looking for better execution in the teams' second matchup.
 
"Angelo, that was a game where we shot ourselves in the foot," he said. "When we played them here, we had 10 turnovers in the first quarter. You can't play against a team of that caliber and have 10 turnovers in any quarter and expect to win. We have to do a much better job of taking care of the ball against them. We've grown and have learned from our mistakes and are a better team now than we were 10 games ago."
 
The games will be broadcast live on the Lion Sports Network, 88.9 FM, KETR. Links to live statistics and video are available at lionathletics.com.